Saturday, August 15, 2015

Re: Boko Haram, Alex Badeh, Jonathan and the Stolen Trillions

I’ve
heard a lot of people advocate that President Buhari should bring you back from
America to serve your fatherland given your education, experience and exposure.
I disagree, and your article this week is one evidence for my disagreement. Who
would have caused us to get as rightly angry as you did with your wonderful
piece on what you called “this astonishingly conscienceless heist” of our
national resources in the name of fighting Boko Haram? Although you live far
away physically, you are near. Paradoxically, the moment President Buhari
brings you home, you will be physically near but far from us. Please continue your good work! As you
advised, we will keep asking until we get an answer. Where are the trillions?

Dele Tomori

This
was certainly one of your most viral articles. It trended on Faceboook,
Twitter, Whatsapp and other social media platforms. After reading your article
I went to look for the original Alex Badeh interview and, oh boy, was I angry?
I doubt that the man was in his right senses when he granted that interview. As
you rightly observed, “It’s the worst form of self-indictment.” English people
call courage resulting from drinking too much alcohol “Dutch courage.” I hope
Badeh’s revelations were not influenced by “Burukutu courage.” President Buhari
has no option but to get to the root of this Olympian theft!

Rasaq Tijani

The
opening assumption missed the simple fact that Badeh was talking before he took
charge, afterwards, armaments were procured that enable the military to
dislodge Boko Haram from not less than 14 local governments just before the
elections.

Badeh
said that much in his hand over speech when he derided the US on the Leahy Act
and thanked "friendly nations that sold weapons to us at the time of our
need". We must not be seen isolating statements to drive a political
point. It doesn't help the war against terror which is far from over nor does
it help the anti-corruption drive because the money we quote as being stolen
will not be traced to any person and the public misled into believing that
trillions were diverted will be disappointed that Dasuki/Gusau/GEJ are walking
free.

Bile Nuhu

Oh!
What a tyranny of figures! I knew of "thousands”, then
"millions", now "trillions" what next...? I call on all
who're arithmetically or mathematically inclined to excuse my ignorance.
Please, after an unconscionable theft of trillions, what is the next stage? Can
you now see how LUCKY a country can be under the GOOD WATCH of a
"GOODLUCK" President? Allah ya
isah!!!

Abdullahi Ibrahim

Certainly
no one can tell what would have become of us all had the Jonathan cabal
continued to ruin (not rule) this country. I pity those helpless soldiers who
went and committed suicide in the name of fighting for our country. My solace
is in the fact that this potbellied military officer and his ilk will not go
unpunished. If not by the Buhari's government then by God Himself. If not here
on earth then in the hereafter.

Abubakar Algwallary

Poor
Nigeria Army. We blame them for not being brave to combat the terrorists, for
running away from fields, for giving out their uniforms to civilians, unknown
to us that they were ill-equipped. So where are the trillions spent in the name
of defense? Prof. said, we should be asking this question until we get an
answer. So I repeat, where are the trillions?

Muzaffar Ibrahim

Amazing
revelations indeed. It is absolutely incredible to think that this large sum of
money meant to bolster the dwindling security in our dear country disappeared
without a single military equipment to show for it. This development really
undermines the sacrosanctity of our security system in this country and by
extension portends a great danger to good governance. These funds are enough to
create millions of employment and provide quality education to millions of our
youths. I pray that this administration will work assiduously to recover much
of the looted funds and use them wisely to create jobs, provide quality
education and better healthcare for the good people of Nigeria who have been
deprived of these basic amenities over the years.

Tijjani Abubakar

I am
a proud Farooq Fan but this analysis needs work. What has happened to our
military is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the blatant looting and
raping of Nigeria by the ruling and intellectual elite. You must start from
Obasanjo and 1999 to today to understand how he and his hand-picked minions
have decimated Nigeria. For many years I have been shouting on the rooftops
that all of Nigeria's public institutions have been gutted and razed to the
ground by thieves posing as rulers under the direct supervision of the grand
criminal of them all, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo. I have pleaded with Nigerian
intellectuals to try to force the rulers du jour to come up with a Marshall
Plan to rescue gutted institutions, whossai, all I have gotten is silence from
compromised PhDs. They want us to believe that stealing and corruption started
with the buffoonery of Goodluck Jonathan. Apparently there are enough clueless
people who believe that claptrap.

Here
is a bit of history. When Obasanjo ascended power a decade and a half ago, he
was deathly afraid of coups. He proceeded to decimate the military structure
and under lax supervision, service chiefs became service thieves. The situation
we have today is as a direct result of Obasanjo's perfidy. Jonathan, Obasanjo's
hand picked man simply continued with glee, the silliness. That is why a crook
and millionaire like Badeh would say that the last time the military bought
anything was in 2006.

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About Me

Dr. Farooq Kperogi is a professor, journalist, newspaper columnist, author, and blogger based in Greater Atlanta, USA. He received his Ph.D. in communication from Georgia State University's Department of Communication where he taught journalism for 5 years and won the top Ph.D. student prize called the "Outstanding Academic Achievement in Graduate Studies Award." He earned his Master of Science degree in communication (with a minor in English) from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and won the Outstanding Master's Student in Communication Award.

He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication (with minors in English and Political Science) from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, where he won the Nigerian Television Authority Prize for the Best Graduating Student.

Dr. Kperogi worked as a reporter and news editor, as a researcher/speech writer at the (Nigerian) President's office, and as a journalism lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic and Ahmadu Bello University before relocating to the United States.

He was the Managing Editor of the Atlanta Review of Journalism History, a refereed academic journal. He was also Associate Director of Research at Georgia State University's Center for International Media Education (CIME).

He is currently an Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at the School of Communication and Media, Kennesaw State University, Georgia's fastest-growing and third largest university. (Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta). He also writes two weekly newspaper columns: "Notes From Atlanta" in the Abuja-based DailyTrust on Saturday (formerly Weekly Trust) and "Politics of Grammar" in the DailyTrust on Sunday (formerly Sunday Trust).

In April 2014 Dr. Kperogi was honored as the Outstanding Alumnus of the University of Louisiana's Department of Communication. His research has also won international awards, such as the 2016 Top-Rated Research Paper Award at the 17th Symposium on Online Journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, USA.